SKULL: A Tale of Masked Rider
by Ryutei Enzan
Summary: Alternate Universe. One man. One device. One USB Flash Drive. He decided to fight the rising crime in the Windy City. Chapter 2 is up!
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Kamen Rider W and Kamen Rider Franchise. I only own the characters and several elements in this story. And this work is **purely fictional**. Meaning that this fanfic is just a mere fiction to entertain the readers [hopefully]. Nothing bad intended in this work, i swear.

**_Author's Note:_** So, this is my attempt at Re-telling Kamen Rider W. There will be plot difference[s], and the main rider is switched from W to... uh, you know who. I hope i did a good attempt to re-tell this story. I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as the original one!

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><p><strong>SKULL<br>**_A Tale of Masked Rider_

_Prologue: **A** Start of New Life/The Power of Skull_

01.00 AM.

One night at Futo, the Windy City…

It's cold and silent. There's no moon, yet there're no stars on the sky, making this night a dark one without a doubt. A sound of speeding motorcycle can be heard from a random road. It's a black sport bike, with a man in brown leather jacket riding it. The engine roars proudly, breaking the silence of the night…

_*Vrooooooooooooo!*_

…until someone suddenly appear few meters in front of the bike.

_*Screeeeeeeeeee!*_

The man on the bike quickly stops his ride and slides it sideways. Hoping he doesn't collide with who, or what is in front of him. The bike skidded with so much force, making it so hard to control. He almost falls terribly if he didn't properly get a hold of the steering bar. And after few seconds of fear, terror, and adrenaline rush, the bike stopped one meter in front of the mysterious figure in a black trench coat. The man sets his bike to stand and removed his helmet, revealing an Asian, gangster-looking face with a short, spiky hair. By looking at the gesture of his face, the man looked angry, VERY angry.

"Holy Crap! Can you, at least, LOOK around before crossing the street?" He exclaimed, approaching the person in front of him, which is revealed to be a female appearing in her late 18s. Since her body mostly covered in trench coat, only the face that can be described. Shoulder-lengthened bluish black hair with some bangs covering the forehead, a pair of cold blue eyes, and feminine, yet strong-accented lips. The infamous wind of Futo waves her long hair to the side. She glared the man back stoically, which annoys the man more. _"God, even a 5-year old kid KNOW how to cross the street! What the hell is wrong with this girl…?"_ The man stated in his mind. He finds it annoying if someone doesn't realize what they've done. And that kind of glare annoys the man more. _"What's this? Trying to be cool?"_

And finally she speaks. She replied with:

"Give it back."

...while she stares the man unemotionally. "Give back what?" The man questioned angrily, feeling irritated with the personality of this young lady. "The Lost Driver, and Skull Memory." The man silenced for a while, though his expression didn't change. As she saying what she wants, and judging from appearance and other stuffs, the man comes with a conclusion_. "…Lost Driver…? Skull Memory..? Oh good! I have to fight, again…"_ He muttered inside his mind. The man sighed, looking at the young girl. "Look, I just had a fight with one of your friends an hour before, and then you showed up. Can't I be peaceful for A SINGLE MINUTE?" He growled furiously. "Then give me the Lost Driver and Skull Memory. We won't fight if you be nice and do what I say." She replied, with another cold tone. The man only gives a "Grrr" sign, and suddenly stops his anger, starting to be serious.

"Hell no." He said, as he takes something inside his jacket. The woman also tries to take something from her pocket. "Then we have to fight." She said as she shows an object, a long, 7 to 9-ish centimeter, vermilion rectangular object, which looks like a big-sized USB Flash Drive, the ribcage design of the USB is very unique and distinctive than normal USB Drives, the man barely can see a symbol resembling a "B" alphabet on the drive. The man managed to draw something from his jacket in same time, his right hand holds some sort of metallic device about a size of a Hard Disk Drive would be, with a red slot. On his left hand, there's something resembles an USB Flash drive. The USB Drive looks very different from the one that the female hold. It looks more rectangular and nearly same with the Normal USB Drives. It's about 5-8 centimeters with a purple color and a symbol of a something resembling a skull.

"Yeah, whatever."

The man sets a straight face as he put the device on his waist. The device lets out a metallic strap, and let it circling around the waist. A "click" sound can be heard as the end of the strap reached the other side of the device, giving a signal that the device is ready.

"Are you capable of using that device?" The female asked as she pressed the button on her USB Drive, letting it plays a loud cry.

**[BIRD]**

"Go and find out by yourself." The man said as he does the same, pressing the button on his USB Drive. A similar voice also plays from the USB, only the object that the voice said is different.

**[SKULL]**

The woman smirked, as she pulled her left sleeve, revealing a tattoo with some kind of futuristic pattern of USB Port on her arm. "Heh." She plugged the USB to the tattoo. Her eyes are glowing, giving a sign that the transformation starts. The man use this chance to transform himself too, he inserted the USB Drive into the red slot on his "buckle" device, a mechanical sound can be heard as he put the Skull Memory inside. Now, only the "S" Symbol of the Skull appeared on the belt slot. "You will regret this, lady…" He whispered in low tone as he snaps the slot to the side.

**[SKULL!]**

As the device shouted "Skull", a holographic projection of the symbol appears, with "Skull" written below the symbol. Slowly, black squares surround the man, as the man replaced with a new figure. As the female now completely transformed as a green, bird-like entity, the man's transformation is also complete. As the hologram fades away, the man now wears a black bodysuit-like armor, with some silver trimmings on the chest, shoulder, wrist, and ankles. The head of a figure very much resembles a silver skull with big eye holes. The interesting feature from the man's new appearance is the white scarf on his neck. As the wind blows the scarf gracefully, the man, now in his new form, glares at the bird creature in front of him.

"Now… count up, before you **dead**!" The new figure pointed his index finger dramatically to the monster…

…And the fight begins…

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><p><em>(The Man's Narration)<em>

…Well, let me tell the things here. So this is Futo, Eco-friendly, windy city. Yeah, this city has so many winds I don't know why. And to clarify that Futo is Eco-friendly, we used wind as alternative energy here. So wind takes the control here. Most of the electricity in Futo comes from the windmill generator, while the rest are from batteries (duh). So, this city was supposedly become a peaceful city and with the people living in harmony. Even we have a… uh… adorable mascot of the city named Futo-kun. But in reality, Futo is a city full of terror, for me.

So, I heard this organization called "The Museum" run by some upper-class family. And I heard they distributing some kind of USB Flash Disk that makes people turn stronger called Gaia Memory in "underworld". And I believe, that's the cause of the rising crime rates in this city. These Gaia Memories indeed making the users become stronger being called Dopant. And… I'm not good at explaining things. To make this bullcrap thing short, I was dragged into this conspiracy and I have to fight against the Museum and this mysterious family, with a thing called "Lost Driver", and an USB Flash Drive called "Skull Memory". Well, doesn't make sense at first, yes?

Maybe after I come up with better words, I'll try to explain this…

_(Narration End)  
><em>

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><p><strong>*THUD*<strong>

That's the sound of a body being collided with the asphalt. And to be specific, that's the Birdie that was collided. The skull-ish figure stands before the monster. The skull figure looks calm, yet furious inside. "I have enough fight, now I have to **END** this." Tranquil, but stern tone starts to threaten the air. Emphasizing on the "End" word, the skull figure pulls off the USB drive and places it in the slot on his right waist. The belt announced something as the USB inserted in the side slot

[SKULL! **MAXIMUM DRIVE!**]

Coincidentally, the wind blows the scarf gently. Making the moments before the skull launched his finisher move goes heroic. "Gah…" the female avian figure tries to regain composure, but as she stands up, it's too late to counter, guard, or even running from the attack.

**"TOH!"**

"UGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The skull figure already jumped and kicked her right on the shoulder. The monster knocked several meters away after the kick connected. The figure passed out, and suddenly flashed back to the female figure from before. And then, the thing which suspected to be the Bird Memory ejected from her arm, falling to ground. The man plugs out the USB as he returned to his normal human form. After placing back his gears to the right place, he walks closer to the female figure. First he looked at the female, and then the USB, and then the girl, and then the USB.

The Girl,

The USB,

The Girl,

The USB,

The Girl,

The…

*STOMP*

The man crushed the USB with his feet. "Hmph." The man stared furiously at the broken USB, saying: "Note to self: Next time I should kick it, on the right spot." And then back to the girl. "Now what should I do with this girl…" He tries to figure out something._ "Bring her with me, bring her to my bed, and… duh. Don't be pervert, Ryo…"_ He planted his palm on his face. While he is exploring his mind for ideas, the girl starts to wriggle slowly, and moaning suggestively. "…Oh crap." The suggestive moaning makes the guy snapped out of his mind. His attention now changes to the awaken girl.

This time, the girl looks different. Although she bears the same appearance, the gesture of the face somehow shows some difference. It's like more…jolly. She changed 180 degree, from cold and icy lady, into a (seemingly) cheerful, happy-go-lucky, and innocent girl. Although she looks friendlier, it doesn't mean that the man should lower his caution. "…Where am i? Who are you? What are we doing here?" she asked, with a tone that is totally different from before. The man raised his one of his eyebrow as he scratched his head in confusion.

"_Why this girl suddenly has a change of heart? Does she have personality disorder or what?"_

"Uh… you don't remember what happened?" The man in confusion asked. "…No. I don't remember anything, even I don't know my name." she said. Another palm is planted on his face while saying some "Duh!" to himself. "Oh god… first I was given strange devices, then I have to fight mutating criminals with USB Drives, and now I'm standing here with an amnesiac girl? _I am sooo happy…_" He emphasized his sarcasm on the word "_happy_". The girl blinked in confusion. "Ergh, don't mind about that. Anyways, since it's late and you don't remember anything, I'll take you to my place." He shrugged his shoulders while looking away from the girl. "Fine with you?" he asked. She only gives a weak, small nod. "…Yes…" she said as she sounded like hesitating about her decision.

…And again, the man facepalmed. Having some kind of gangster face indeed makes a problem…

The man gives a dull look to that girl, and then exhales his breath grumpily. "…Duh. I'm not the kind of the guy that takes a girl to his place, do her, and throw her away. I'll be troubled handling the _"product"_ of my work." He tried his "not-so-good" way to persuade the girl that he's not as bad as he looks. "I'm only offering this help because you have amnesia, and because it's late night. Nothing else..." he decided to stare at the empty sky for some reason. After few moments, the guy looked back at the girl and stresses his offer to her one more time. And he doesn't want the girl to refuse the offer. He just can't leave the girl alone at the street.

"_I'm a human being too…"_

"…I offer this once again before you have to wait till morning and some random police finds you: Do you want to join me? Choose wisely, and choose it quick."

The man crossed his arm, waiting for the girl's response. And it took about 10 minutes for the girl to decide "yes". The man groaned, shaking his head.

"You can do it faster, can't you?"

The man helped her to stand, and drives away with the newfound girl from the street.

"And here's another day of Ryo Fukuda, screwed with USB-powered humans and going late for work…" He muttered to himself while he races through the time…

_**-Prologue: End-  
><strong>_

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><p><em><strong>Enzan: <strong>_So, what do you think about the prologue? Is it cool? Is it sucks? ...Well... i have nothing much to say,but i hope you will be prepared for the next chapter!

Oh yeah, i forgot to tell you guys. The Kamen Rider Skull used at this Story is the "Skull Crystal" Form. The one without "S" crack on the head.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Kamen Rider W and Kamen Rider Franchise. I only own the characters and several elements in this story. And this work is **purely fictional**. Meaning that this fanfic is just a mere fiction to entertain the readers [hopefully]. Nothing bad intended in this work, i swear.

_**Author's Note: **_Alright! I present you... Chapter 1! I just hope my sense of humor is not dull for you guys. Anyways, enjoy the first chapter of my fic!

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><p><strong>SKULL<br>**_A Tale of Masked Rider_

_Chapter 1: **A** Start of New Life/A Girl, A Café, and A Punk  
><em>

_(Narrator's Short Summary)_  
>Well… before I start the story, I'll give you a short summary about our good guy. Yes, that messed-up guy is our main good guy. His name is Fukuda Ryo. People call him Ryo. He's 24 years old. His hair is buzzed short on the sides. He keeps the remaining short hair a bit spiked. Has stubble on his face. He has sleepy brown eyes. And he wears jeans, white T-shirt, and brown leather jacket, everyday. He works as a freelancing photographer and chef in a café named "Snow Flake".<p>

And since I tell you i only give **short** summary about Ryo, that's it. We end the character introduction here, now go and read the remaining story! Shoo shoo!  
><em>(Narrator's Short Summary End)<em>

02.15 AM.

_*Vroooooooooooo!*_

_*Screeeech!*_

The black motorcycle stopped at a kind of what we can call a boarding house, the cheap ones. And I mean it. The. **Cheap**. Ones.

"Phew…"

Ryo sighed as he removes his helmet and puts it on the right place on his bike. "You can get down, girl." He said. The girl nodded and slowly gets off the bike. "Wait here. I'll park the bike first." The guy then moves his motorcycle to the parking lot, stands the bike, and locking the bike to make sure NO ONE steal his precious bike. After he thinks he did the stuffs, Ryo goes back to the girl. "Alright, let's go to my room." He said as he leads the way and gestured the girl to follow him. "Ah… yes…" she replied softly as she hurried herself to follow the man. After taking some good steps, the man and the girl arrived at… at… uh…

"This is my room. I hope you don't mind with small rooms."

…I was about to say that. That's Ryo's room.

"Well, I don't mind living in small rooms as long as it's safe." The girl smiled, which only brings a sigh from Ryo. _"Dammit, this girl's word reminded me of her…"_ He grumbled in his mind. The "messed-up" guy puts the key on the locked room, before he manages to open up the room. Surprisingly, for a "messy" person like him, Ryo's room is quite well-organized. There's a bookshelf, a desk, a dresser, another cupboard, a laptop, and a bed. The room itself is large enough for two people. And as the man enters the room and turns on the light, the cream-colored room now has a clearer view. A stack of papers and photographs organized on the desk, the closed laptop was placed near the stacks. The small bookshelf on the wall looks full, as various sizes of books fill up the place. The bed is covered in a plain, clean white sheet. And also, there's a soft white pillow on the bed. Between the small cupboard and the dresser, there's a stack of newspapers. Not to mention the small frig placed above the cupboard.

"Come in." Ryo said, waving his hands with a "follow me" gesture. The girl nodded, and walks in. After she's inside, he closes the door, locked it, and placed his brown leather jacket on the hanger behind the door. The man, now in a plain white T-shirt with same trousers looked at the girl. "Well, nothing much here. But I hope you can enjoy your stay." He said, trying to be a good man. "Thank you." The girl replied back with a smile. "So… do you remember anything about yourself?" The man asked, opening up the fridge and takes out two cans. One can is brown colored, with a symbol of an old man's face with a smoking pipe. Below the symbol, the "BASS" letter engraved on the can. While other can has similar brand, the only difference is the color. This can is colored black. "Anyways, I only have canned coffees, want one?" he said as he offers the brown can. "Sure." She replied and takes the brown can. "Why you offer me the brown can?" She asked. Ryo already opened the black can and drinks it. "…Because it is Cappuccino flavor." The man replies, and takes another sip of his coffee. "The black one is Black Coffee flavor, no taste at all. You won't like it." And the girl nodded a bit before she opens the can for herself and drinks the content.

Silence ensues. Both Ryo and the mysterious girl only can sip their coffee till there's nothing left from the can. Both cans are thrown to the dustbin.

10 Minutes… nothing happened. Ryo is looking at the stacked stuffs on the desk, the girl stares at him.

20 Minutes… he takes another black can. The girl keeps staring at Ryo.

30 Minutes… the girl keeps staring at Ryo. And finally he stares back at her.

"Uh… it's a bit awkward having another person live inside my room…" he lets out another sigh, looking at the girl sitting on his bed. "So, do I make a trouble here?" the mysterious girl asked. "No, I have no problems with it. I just feel awkward." Ryo replied. "Well, it's a bit hot here…I hope you don't mind if I put the trench coat on the hanger." The girl then stands up, taking off her trench coat, revealing black buttoned shirt, a dark blue bowtie with black stripes, and black trousers. The next thing happened is, the girl put her trench coat on the hanger beside the jacket. "Such masculine clothing you have there, miss." Ryo smirked. The girl blushed upon the comment of the man "…Uhh… thank you. I take that as compliment." She smiled weakly. "Well, before you got memory loss, I remember you were a cold girl, stoic, all that stuff. Now you changed 180 degree like your brain was flipped." The man commented dryly.

"…Really?" she gives a puzzled look.

"…Yeah." Ryo countered with an unexciting look.

"Anyways, I'm Fukuda Ryo. Call me Ryo." He offered a hand for to be shaken. "Yeah, I know it's a bit uncomfortable to have a handshake with opposite gender. I just do this for the sake of introduction." The girl blinked for a moment, and accepted the handshake shyly. "Nice to meet you, Ryo-kun." She said, rolling her eyes aside to throw away her face of embarrassment.

And Ryo is not a good talker. He can't find common topics to be talked or something funny to be told. He quickly goes straight to the point: Making this girl remembers who she is supposed to be. "Well… maybe you can see your identity card to know your name. You bring wallet?" the girl slowly reach something from her trousers' pocket. And she pulled off a leather wallet. She looks the contents of the wallet, and she found her identity card. "Watanabe Yuri…" the female said as she looked at the identity card. "So, your name is Yuri then…" the man nodded. "Since it's written on my identity card…" the girl shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, I know." Ryo commented with his usual dull tone. "So, from now on, I call you Yuri."

"Well… it's almost 3 AM Yuri, you better get some sleep." The man signaled her to quickly sleep on the bed. "You can use the bed. I'm fine sleeping on the floor." The girl silenced for a while, and second by second, her face is becoming much redder. Ryo becomes much more confused about this Yuri girl. "Uh… is there something?" the man quirked his eyebrow, demanding a reason why the girl turns so red. "…A…ano…" the girl shyly speaks.

"…I can't sleep like this. I need to take off my shirt and trousers."

"Oh, I see-…What?"

"…Yes, I feel comfortable if I only sleep with underwear."

"I hope you don't mind about this, Ryo-kun." She grinned sheepishly.

"...Holy flames."

The man decided to take something from his dresser. "Here, use the blanket. Exposing your body to a man is not good. Though I'm not a pervert, still… I feel awkward sleeping with a woman exposing her body to me. It's too suggestive…" He facepalmed.

"I won't see you taking off the clothes, go ahead." The man starts to lie down, turning his body away from the girl. _"…I can't believe this… I fought her 2 hours ago, and suddenly she sleeps with me, at my own room. Just… just…"_

"_Unbelievable."_ The man shut his eyes. Hoping that everything he experienced before was just a dream.

"_Just… a… dream…"  
><em>

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><p>The man finally falls asleep, letting his mind dive down to the world of sub-consciousness, despite of how strong is the caffeine from the coffee he drank. Every single breath he takes, brings him down closer to dream land…<p>

…a dark, gloomy dream land of nothingness…

"_Uguu.." *sob*_

"…_Did I hear something just now?"_ Ryo's voice echoed, he can't feel anything but his sense of sight and sound.

"_...I can hear someone crying… where is the crying person…?"_

_*sob* *sob*_

Slowly, a figure appears. A white, long haired girl, naked, sitting weakly. Wings sprouting from her back, but it appear that the white wings were bent and broken.

"…_An angel…?"_ Ryo's eyes widened, looking at the helpless girl.

"…_Uguu…" *sob* *sob*_

"…_my wings… broken…"_

Tears continue to flow from her face. So, she sad because her wings broken?

"_Hey, are you…"_ Ryo tried to soothe the white haired girl, but looks like she can't hear him. She continues to cry, until another figure appears beside her. The other figure looks identical, but she has black hair and wings instead of white. The black angel hugs the broken angel.

"_Sister, don't cry…"_

"_I'm here. I always here for you…"_

"_Yuri-nee…" *sob*_

"_Don't cry, sis… I'll help you fly…"_

"…_with these… WINGS!"_

"_Yuri-neeeeee!"_

Suddenly the black angel turned into a bird entity that Ryo fought before, but the color of this bird entity is black, and it's much demonic than before. The demon bird takes away the white angel with her. And now Ryo is left in darkness.

"_What the hell is this vision? Is it another strange product of my crazy mind?" _

Ryo's mind started to get blurred again, slow but sure, it turns into a complete blackout.

* * *

><p>Next day, 05.00 AM<p>

…

"…Hrrrgh…"

Ryo finally managed to awake. He quickly sits up, snap his joints, pulls off his cell phone, and sighing after he knows the time shows 5 o'clock. "…Glad the caffeine kicked…" Ryo snaps the neck joint once more. "Still have one hour, I gotta make some breakfast." The man quickly rises up from his slumber and opens the cupboard. "…Let's see… cup noodles… cup ramen… cup yakisoba…"

"Duh, they're all same…"

Ryo finally decide to take the soy-sauce flavored cup yakisoba, two of them. _"Alright, gotta wake the girl, and make breakfast." _The man thought to himself. Theorizing is easy, but the application of the theory isn't as easy as the theory itself. Ryo gulped, he looked at sleeping Yuri on his bed. Glad that the girl is facing the wall and covers herself with the blanket he gave. _"Okay, just approach her, poke a bit, and call her name. It's easy, it's easy…"_ Strange chill starts to creep around his spine, as Ryo starts to become closer with the girl. "Er… Yuri…?"

Nothing happened. He tried the second time, and the girl still sleeps. "Uh.." Ryo didn't give up, he pokes the girl again for the third time. "…Yuri…?" He called the name softly. And finally, the female responded with a weak voice. "…I'm awake…" she squirms a little before turning back to the guy. The female's body is covered in blanket, only her face visible. Her hair is messed up, and nothing changed from the girl's face, save for the dried tears below her eyes. "…Looks like you were crying. What's the matter?" Ryo noticed her eyes. The girl shook her head, trying to make sure everything is okay. "Nothing…" a little sadness spiced up her voice.

"Are you sure nothing happened? Crying for no reason is not reasonable. " Worries start to fill the guy's thoughts.

"…I'm fine Ryo-kun. You don't have to worry about me." Yuri insisted.

"If you say so…"

Ryo doesn't want to make this arguing much longer. He thinks that problem shouldn't be discussed anymore.

The guy then shows the cup yakisoba. "Well, it's breakfast time. I'm gonna make yakisoba. You want some too? Or you want other stuff like ramen or cup noodles?" Ryo starts to act like a salesman. The girl quickly has a mood swing looking at Ryo's attitude. she giggled a bit.

"I'll eat what you eat."

Ryo silenced. Now he looks at the smiling girl. "…You'll eat what I eat?" He inquiring what Yuri meant. "Uhh… since you don't have so much food choice, I'll just eat what you would like to eat." Yuri said, trying to be honest. Ryo can't help scratching his head. "…That means if I eat TNT, you will eat TNT too?" Yuri responds with a giggle. "Teeheehee~! You're funny, Ryo-kun." She keeps giggling on Ryo's remark. "Oh well, I'll go to kitchen and make breakfast. When I come back, you **must** wear some clothing." The guy then goes out from the room, leaving the girl.

"_Yuri… this girl just full of surprises…"_

Now the man is walking to the public kitchen of the boarding house. Once he enters the kitchen, Ryo noticed there's another person inside the kitchen. As he walks inside the kitchen, the other person glances to Ryo. "I surprised you come one hour earlier." Ryo only smirked. "The coffee kicked extremely well." Ryo remarked as he stands beside the shaggy-haired man. "Told you, BASS Coffee is the best." The shaggy-haired man sneered as he flips the omelet from the frying pan. "And I see you bring two yakisoba cups. You need extra portion?" the man chuckled as he continues flipping the omelet. "Make a guess." Ryo replied as he open the cups.

"Oooh! You have guest?" The shaggy man turned off the stove and catches the omelet with a plate in unison. "Yeah, I have a guest." Ryo starts to take some vegetables and eggs. He chopped the vegetables quickly. "_Another_ male?" The other man asked in curiosity as he takes some rice from the rice cooker and puts it on the omelet. "Wrong." Ryo replied as he already beat the eggs and have the soba boiled. "A female? You kidding me!" the other man laughed as he put the plate near Ryo and take his toasted bread. "No kidding Katsu. She's in my room now." Ryo prepares two plates, two fork, and two steak knives. Then he fries the egg, making it omelet. And he puts the boiled noodle on the plate. "Sooo… who is this girl, Ryo?" the shag-haired man named Katsu asked as he put the toast on his plate while snatching some of Ryo's cut vegetables.

"Her name is Yuri, I found her on random street. She's amnesia."

"Am I supposed to believe _that_?"

"Your choice, Katsu. You can go to my room if you don't believe me."

Ryo continues cooking his Yakisoba omelet, while Katsu finished cooking his breakfast. "Oh well, I'm so gonna see this Yuri girl. You'll go to the café at 6 AM right?" Katsu said as he prepared to go back to his room. "Yeah, 6 AM." Ryo nodded, busy handling the cooking stuffs. "Alright then, I'll visit your room before 6. I'll be quick." Katsu walks out from Ryo's sight. And silence ensues…

"I gotta finish this food quick, can't make her wait longer…"

While Yuri, with her earlier outfit, now is tidying up the bed. Since the room is neat enough, she didn't have to do much. She only waits for Ryo to come back with the food. Tired of waiting, Yuri decided to grab something from the fridge. "Wow…" she only sees cans inside the fridge. "Hmm… where's the black can…" she examined the cans carefully, until she noticed the black can and takes it. "Black Coffee… huh?" she hesitated at first, but she decided to drink it. As she takes few good sips from the can, she stopped. She gulps all the stuff inside her mouth and starts to make a "yuck" gesture. "…That's why…" the girl sighed, but she proceeds to drink it again. "But I _like_ it..." Suddenly, her evil smirk comes back as she tastes the bitterness of the black coffee.

"Sorry to keep you wai… Eh?"

Yuri blinked as she finished drinking the Black Coffee. Ryo comes in with the food. "Wow… you take the Black Coffee…" Ryo eyes turn a bit widened as he carefully place the plates on the floor. Yuri's expression turns back to normal. "The meal is ready. Fresh from the kitchen." He said, giving one of the plates to Yuri. It's a deep-brown colored omelet, with some cabbage and tomato as dressings. Also, there's a nice, soy-sauce spread on the omelet. "Hmm… where's the yakisoba?" Yuri examined the food carefully, poking the omelet with the fork. "Inside the omelet. It's a yakisoba omelet." Ryo said with a muffled voice, signing that he started eating first. Yuri starts to use the knife and fork, and give it a shot.

_*Chomp*_

"Mmmm…" She munched happily. It looks like she's happy with the taste of the omelet.

"What do you think?" Ryo crunched the fresh cabbage.

"You are such a good cook, Ryo-kun!" she smiled to him.

"Of course! I'm a chef!" Ryo smirked jokingly.

"Well… in serious matter, I never hear someone appreciate me as a good cook. They just say my food is delicious, which I doubt it comes from their heart." The man said, frowning a bit.

"But this food is yummy! People must be grateful of you from their deepest heart." Yuri's sound is a bit muffled thanks to the omelet.

"Why I'm so flattered hearing your comment…" Ryo groaned as he continues eating the meal.

And there's a knock on the door.

"One sec!" Ryo growled to the door.

_*Creak*_

"So where's the girl?"

"There."

As Ryo pointed Yuri, the other man, which is Katsu, shocked in disbelief. "**THE HELL**! You have a beautiful girl inside your room, Ryo?" Katsu shakes Ryo's shoulder fiercely. He didn't believe what's captured by his eyes.

"Tell me it's a dream Ryo! Tell me!"

"Get a hold of yourself Katsu! What kind of thing did you smoke?" Ryo tries to calm his buddy down.

"Uh… sorry, I just so surprised…"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Katsu finally get a chance to meet the girl. Yuri, who just finished the omelet, looked at the newcomer. "Who is he, Ryo-kun?" the girl is curious with this new guy. "Let him introduce himself." Ryo replied, he then gestured Katsu to introduce himself. "Okay, miss, my name is Sawada Katsuhiko. Just call me Katsu for short. I'm 18, and I'm Single." He grinned.

"As you said to other _23 girls_ out there." Ryo remarked. Katsu only can grit his teeth, which countered with an evil smirk from his buddy. Yuri couldn't help giggling. "Such a funny introduction, Katsu-kun!" She grinned happily towards Katsu. "I know. It's nice to meet you, anyways." Katsu replied back with a smile. "And I gotta go to college. See you guys later!" Katsu rushes to the boarding house entrance and waved a goodbye. Ryo sighed, again.

"…Che, that dude…"

"Your friend is quite funny, Ryo-kun." Yuri said.

"Yeah, he's a funny, sucky loser. But he's a good friend, and he got some good qualities. He's just clumsy." The man smirked upon his own comment

"Anyways, I also gotta go somewhere. Wanna go with me?"

"To?"

"My workplace."

The girl nodded, and both of them go out from the room, leaving the plates behind. "Maybe you can stay at this boarding house and work with me for a while." Ryo said, walking to his ride. "I don't know… perhaps that's a good idea?" She replied, waiting Ryo to turn on his bike. "Maybe, till you remember who you are." Ryo unlocked his bike and starts the engine. "Take the helmet." The man tossed the other black helmet to the girl, while he wears his own black helmet. The girl catches the helmet and quickly puts it on her. "Ready?" Yuri then sits on the back and wraps her arm around the guy's waist. "Hold on tight, this ride will be more frightening than a roller coaster." Ryo said as he drives his steed to full speed.

Meanwhile… from an unknown place, someone is watching Ryo and Yuri. It's a spiky-haired man with fancy black leather jacket covering the heavy-metal themed T-shirt beneath. Black boots tapping slightly on the ground. On his right hand, something resembles USB Drive with black color and odd ribcage design like the previous one Yuri had. This time, the symbol resembles an "A" alphabet, with "Arms" engraved on the USB Drive.

"So… he's the holder of Skull Memory…"

"I expect a good fight between me and him later…"

The man lets out an evil laugh and disappears.

* * *

><p>It takes about a good 10 minutes of reckless driving… until finally, both of them arrived at Ryo's workplace, a café with unusual hexagon pattern as the logo.<p>

"Err, Ryo…? Can you please be more careful and lower your speed later?"

"Uhh… yeah, sure…"

"…Anyways, here is my workplace, Snow Flake Café." Ryo proudly introduces the café.

"Oh, so this is your workplace..." Yuri nodded a little before she gets off from the bike.

"Yep. And I work as the chef here." He takes off his helmet, placing it on the right place. And so does Yuri.

"You gonna love this café, Yuri." The man said as he walks in to the café. Yuri simply follows him.

The interior of the café isn't much different with other cafés out there. It's decorated with a nice combination of white and sky blue. White tables with blue chairs are ready for the customers. And there's the cashier counter. And there's a girl with blue maid outfit wiping one of the tables. "Howdy ho!" Ryo addressed one of his random greetings to the girl. "Ryo? You come earlier today!" The girl stops wiping the table and looked at Ryo and Yuri. "Well, better than late or not coming at all, Lily." Ryo replied.

"Anyways, who is the girl with you?" Ruka tilted her head to the girl beside Ryo.

"Oh, she's one of my friends. Her name is Watanabe Yuri" He tried to hide the fact that he _picked the girl from street_.

"And Yuri, meet Sakurako Ruka. She's the owner, and the head waitress in Snow Flake."

"Nice to meet you, Yuri-san!" Ruka uses her "charming" smile. Well, it's called "charming" because that smile works for "charming" some men.

"Nice to meet you too, Ruka-san!" Yuri replied back with another smile.

"Oh well, I gotta start cooking some pancakes." Ryo leads his way to the kitchen. "Yuri, you might want to help me." The man gestured her to follow. "Eh? She's here to help you cook Ryo?" Ruka is a bit confused. "…Well, she needs a job. Either you want to make her a cook or a waitress, your choice." Ryo starts to whistle random tunes as he enters the kitchen. He quickly wears the apron and chef hat stored in the kitchen. (To remind you guys, Ryo doesn't wear his jacket. He left it at his room. So he only wears white T-shirt.)

"Yuri, now I'll give you a short tour in this kitchen." Ryo then starts to explain the stuffs in the kitchen. Ruka sighed a bit. But she's happy that Ryo recruited a new person to work in her café. _"That Ryo…" _Ruka then continues cleaning the tables as she wait for the other cook and her waitresses.

Next 5 minutes, the other cook arrived. He has an average build. He wears glasses, and has a slick hair. His name is Takeda Goro. He quickly joins with Ryo and Yuri in the kitchen.

Next 10 minutes, a blonde girl about the same age as Yuri appears. She stylized her hair in twintails. Her name is Kusakabe Lily, she greeted the head waitress before going to waitress room and changes her outfit. After she changed, she helps Ruka cleaning the tables.

After the blonde arrived, there're two girls arrived this time. One is a brunette girl with asymmetrical hair, and the other is a girl with black "Hime" styled hair. The brunette's name is Kitagawa Tomomi, while the other one is Ichikawa Mio. Like Lily did, the two girls greeted the head waitress and Lily, as they walk to the waitress room and change. Tomomi joins Lily and Ruka, while Mio goes to the cashier counter.

And there we go. The usual routines of the café start…

Some people come in, ordering stuffs, and they come out with smile after they enjoyed what they eat. People really enjoyed their meals at Snow Flake. Not to mention the cute girls in maid outfit. Really, the main attraction of the Snow Flake isn't the maids. It's the tasty foods that make people want to come to Snow Flake again. (You know _who the cook is_.) Snow Flake opens from 07.00 AM to 04.00 PM, they offer varieties of breakfast and lunch meals. People mostly grab the pancakes, sandwiches, and omelets for their breakfast. Or they go for the kare rice, steak, and omurice for lunch. Snow Flake also offers frost cakes, puddings, and variety of desserts and beverages.

…Now why I sound like promoting Snow Flake? I supposed to give you a story… well, let's skip some time, because starting from the opening time, there's nothing special besides lots of guys entered Snow Flake and enjoyed being treated by maids.

03.55 PM

It's the time before the closing of Snow Flake. The waitresses and the cook are having some good talk. The maids already changed back to their casual attires.

"…I didn't expect Yuri to have good cooking skills…" Goro said, sipping his tea

"Not as good as Ryo-kun and you." Yuri replied with a little blush on her face.

"…Well, what's the decision? Will we make Yuri as a cook? Or make her waitress?" Ryo interrupted.

"That's a difficult choice, Ryo…" The head waitress rubs her chin, thinking for the best choice.

"She has a good look, and she can cook well too… oh, what to choose, what to choose…" Ruka can't come up with a decision.

"Hmm… how about make Yuri trying each job? And let's look what job fits her best, agree?" Tomomi shared her idea.

"Yeah! That's a good idea!" Ruka snapped out from her mind.

"Couldn't agree more." Lily stated.

"We gonna have a new companion…" Mio shyly colors up the conversation.

"I still have one outfit left. And I think Yuri is suitable with that." Ruka said with a joyful tune.

"Umm… so I'll be the maid tomorrow." Yuri asked.

"Yup! You fine with that? Or do you just want to be a cook?" Ruka replied, now looking at the new girl.

"Uh… well… I'll try…" Yuri said with a little nervousness. Everyone cheered her up after that, save for Ryo.

"Well, we gonna closed soon, now you all can go home." Ruka smiled to everybody. "Thank you for this day, everyone~!" and the staffs go back to their place, except Ryo, Goro, and Yuri. Ryo and Goro have to help Ruka closing the café.

After several minutes cleaning the café and closing the store…

Now Ryo is already on his bike, with Yuri sitting on back.

"Ruka, me and Yuri will go home. I still have things to do. Sorry I can't help much for today…"

"Having you brought Yuri to Snow Flake already helps me big, Ryo…" Ruka smiled gently as she looked at Ryo.

"No need to thank me, Ruka." The man smirked.

"Anyways, we'll take our leave. Take care Ruka, and you too, Goro…" Ryo waved to both and goes away. Ruka and Goro waved back at speeding up Ryo.

Now they are head for home. Ryo did what Yuri advised at the morning: Slow. Down. Yeah, now Ryo's driving is much more relaxed, compared to that morning. Yuri hugged him from behind, resting her head on his back. _"Damn it, Yuri… Damn it… Why do you have to make me remember her…" _Ryo grunted, starting to picture his reminiscence of one moment of himself riding a motorcycle with his past lover.

_(Flashback, Ryo's P.O.V)_

That time…

…Riding an old blue scooter instead of my black "Fireblade"...

"…Ryo?"

"Yes, Yuri?"

"Can you lower your speed?"

Behind me, there's a girl hugging my waist. Long black hairs, that cute white shirt, that brown pleated skirt…

"20 kilometer per hour is too fast for you, eh?" I said with a cocky tone. I was proud with my old scooter at that time, no matter how old, how slow, and how rusty my scooter is.

"No…" she replied.

"I just want it to be slower, because this kind of moment is only once in your lifetime… and I want to enjoy this moment."

"…Yuri, why you are so romantic? I'm supposed to be the romantic one…" I criticize her in soft way. True, I'm not romantic enough when it comes to love. I just simply go "I love you, and I will protect you, and we will be together forever." But my lover, apparently, can play with words more…

"Oh, Ryo… you don't have to be romantic to love someone. Knowing that you love me with your deepest heart is enough~…"

…Man, I feel so guilty…

"Yuri, I envy your skill in playing with words… I shouldn't sleep at language class to become a sweet talker like you…" I said, attempting my best to be as pleasant as I can.

"I take the sweet talker part as an admiring comment." And there's another lovely embarrassed laugh from her.

…And I continue driving slowly in the sunset with that girl, wanting to enjoy this kind of moment.

Like she said…

_(End Flashback)_

Ryo then hurries himself up as he concentrated back on the streets. He wants to drop this girl very soon.

* * *

><p>Now Ryo and Yuri arrived at the boarding house. As usual, Yuri gotta get off from the bike and give the helmet back, while Ryo have to park his bike.<p>

"Yuri, after this I will go again. I want you to stay here." This time, Ryo doesn't look as funny as he supposed to be. He looks more serious.

"Alone?" Yuri started to frown as Ryo's voice become sterner.

"You won't be alone of course. Katsu will accompany you. I believe he's already in his room."

They go to Katsu's room, which is not too far from the public kitchen and Ryo's room. Ryo knocked the door, and Katsu pops up from the door, surprised.

"Hello th-**YURI**?" Katsu, who was eating some potato chips, choked the chips on his throat thanks for the surprise appearance of Yuri.

"Uh… hi? Are you okay Katsu?" Yuri blinked at choked Katsu.

"Katsu, I want you to accompany Yuri while I go." Ryo starts to speak.

The choked Katsu is punching his chest, to make the chips move and free his throat from suffering. After Katsu managed to free from the choke…

"What? You want Yuri to stay at my place?"

"Yes."

"Wait a sec…"

Katsu suddenly slams the door. And both Yuri and Ryo can hear someone screaming happily on the inside. It was something like **"Yipeee!"**, **"Yuri!"**, and **"Yes! Yes! Yes!"**, with an overly excited tone. After the scream was gone, the door opened again.

"Okay, she can stay with me." Katsu grinned widely.

"Don't do anything to her, I'm gonna report you to police for _doing a sexual harassment to a young girl_." Ryo warned the guy with a dull, yet sharp tone.

"Who the hell do you think I am? I know HOW TO TREAT a girl in a GOOD WAY!" Katsu gritted his teeth, showing that Ryo's word offended him.

"Just in case, Katsu. Just in case…" Ryo yawned.

"Oh yeah, Yuri, if Katsu is going wrong, smack him on the head with a hammer."

"Sure!"

"…" Imagine the anime-style sweat drop on Katsu's head.

"Okay, can't waste my time more. Take a good care of her, Katsu!" Ryo walks out from their sight, raising one of his hands in one, eccentric manner.

"You too, Geezer!" Katsu yelled.

"Come in Yuri! Let's watch some movies!" Katsu said excitingly.

"Movies!" Yuri also gets excited and hurries herself to join Katsu.

…Another grumbling breath comes from Ryo as he fixes his leather jacket and straddles on his bike, preparing to turn on the machine. No more complaining words, no more "Mr. Funny Face", no more playing around. Now it's time for Ryo to get serious. He starts to accelerate in full speed, concentrating on what will become his next destination.

* * *

><p>Now he's crossing back the street where he fought Yuri at that night. And the driving is going smooth, until…<p>

_*Screeeeeeeeee!*_

A big, black "Cruiser" style motorcycle appears in front of Ryo, blocking its way.

"_...This is gonna be suck…"_

Ryo, skillfully slides his motorcycle, performing 360 degree spin and managed to stop his motorcycle. And then he saw this rocker-styled guy (if you don't know who is this guy, look at the part where this guy stalks Ryo and Yuri before), grinning arrogantly.

"So you are Fukuda Ryo…" the rocker guy said.

"Yes I am. And who the hell are you?" Ryo opened his helmet.

"Call me "Pride"." The man said, proudly crosses his arm.

"_Pride_? You look like an eighteen year dirty punk, and you call yourself "Pride"? At least brush your teeth first. You stink."

"…Such a big mouth, for a man like you." The guy who apparently called himself "Pride" draws something from his pocket. And you can guess it. It's the Black Gaia Memory from before. "A" Symbol can be seen from the Flash Drive.

"Let's get this straight: You want to fight me?" Ryo quickly pulls off his buckle device and the Skull Memory.

"Actually, I'm not intended to fight you. I only want the Lost Driver and the Skull Memory…" And at sudden, the same tattoo appeared on Yuri's arm now is on the other guy's forehead.

"But since I know you won't just give them, I have to use the hard way." The guy stabbed the USB to the tattoo, transforming him to a new figure.

**[ARMS]**

"_Kids and their toys these days…"_

He placed the Lost Driver on his waist, letting it turns into a belt. "True. I won't give these stuffs easily." Ryo said as he presses the button on Skull Memory.

**[SKULL]**

"Especially, to punks like you."

_*Click* *Snap!*_

**[SKULL!]**

And Ryo transformed into the Skull-ish figure from before. Suddenly, Ryo jumps away from his bike, dodging several gunshots. "Said the older punk." The guy now appeared as a tall crimson figure in some sort of metallic armor. The figure's head is a red humanoid head in transparent silver skull cover. And apparently, the shot was coming from the figure's left arm, which is changed to some sort of a gun. The skull figure then landed in front of his bike. _"…The hell, this guy's got a gun."_ Ryo muttered to himself, looking at the gun from that Dopant. "Surprised, Skull? This gun is one wonder of Arms Memory." The garbled voice of the Dopant commented on his firearm. "Should I be amazed with that… uh… _automated pea-shooting tool_?" Ryo's cynical remark was replied with shots from Pride. Glad that Ryo managed to do a side roll and dodged the bullets. "This "automated pea-shooting tool" shoots **metal peas**! Bad attempt to make a joke, Fukuda!" Pride continues shooting Ryo with his gun.

Ryo tried to dodge every bullet aimed at his body. But it's hard as hell, knowing the fact that Arms Dopant's gun is a kind of machinegun. If he made wrong step, rain of bullets are ready to welcome him. But dodging makes Ryo tired enough, and he believes that Pride won't stop shooting till he gets the target. After dodging few bullets, Ryo, intentionally, stops dodging and let some bullets hit his body. Skull is knocked back, but tries to hold back the impact and stand still. It's hurt, yes. But it's better than playing cat and mouse with that Pride guy.

"Ohohoho, losing your touch already?" Pride's garbled voice shows some sort of satisfactory after managed to hit the Skull with his gun.

"_Now's my chance!"_

Ryo didn't replied the comment, but quickly lunges forward and delivers barrage of attacks to the monster figure. Glad that Pride's reaction time is a bit slow when it comes to close range. Skull managed to give some good jabs on Pride, and a kick landed on Pride's head as a finishing touch. "Ugh!" Arms Dopant falls down after he received the kick. "My turn." Ryo said, pulling of his Skull Memory, inserting it on the slot beside the Driver.

[SKULL! **MAXIMUM DRIVE**!]

Ryo jumps off, preparing to give a jumping sidekick to the Dopant.

***Ratatatatatatatat!***

As the kick almost landed on the lying Dopant, Pride managed to shoot Ryo before the kick connected. The kick connected, though. But it doesn't hit the weak spot of that Dopant. Instead, the kick is connected with the gun. Ryo jumped back as his right foot feels hurt from taking those bullets. "…Such a trick you have there." Ryo smirked behind his helmet. Pride gets up, holding his wounded left arm. "And you give me a good fight this afternoon." The Dopant replied. "I would like to continue this fight, but I have to do my job as a _Sinner…"_

"Does this mean you running away?" Ryo bluntly commented.

"Why should I run away? I can't stain my title with such a cowardly act." The garbled voice arrogantly replied.

"Oh, that means you want to fight me at other time?"

"Maybe later night, tomorrow, who knows?"

The figure then straddles on the Cruiser, revving up the engine unpleasantly. "But I'll make sure we continue this fight as soon as possible. Until then, prepare yourself, Fukuda Ryo…"

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!*

And the figure leaves. Ryo sighed, cancelling out his transformation.

"..._Sinner_, huh?"

Ryo walks back to his bike, fixing his leather jacket.

"I'm late. Thank you, Pride guy."

He also drives the bike away from the street, going full speed.

_*Vroooooooooooooooo!*  
><em>

* * *

><p>Moments later, Ryo stops at a place resembling a harbor. He noticed someone is standing, looking at the line of inactive small boats and the sea. Ryo nodded, giving a heads up to himself, and approaches the person over there.<p>

"Yo! Sorry for coming late." Ryo greeted the standing man in white tuxedo and fedora.

"Old habits die hard, Tiger?" the man replied, still looking at the bay.

"You don't have to ask the obvious." Ryo snorted, now standing beside the man.

"Anyways… why you want me to come here, Sakazuki?"

"I have questions **for you**, Fukuda…" The man shifts his glance to Ryo.

**_-Chapter 1: End-  
><em>**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Enzan:<em>** Phew! Finally i finished the first chapter! I dunno why but i would like Skull to face Arms Dopant first. And i promise, next fight between this "Pride" guy and Ryo will be more exciting! Also, if you want to review my story, go ahead! I open for Comments & Critics. I promise Chapter 2 will have more action, i promise.**_  
><em>**


	3. Chapter 2

**_**Disclaimer: **_**I do not own Kamen Rider W and Kamen Rider Franchise. I only own the characters and several elements in this story. And this work is **purely fictional**. Meaning that this fanfic is just a mere fiction to entertain the readers [hopefully]. Nothing bad intended in this work, i swear.

**Author's Note: **Chapter 2! Well, just like i promised before, i'll attempt to give more action. I just hope that it worked in a good way. Anyways, enjoy your reading!

* * *

><p><strong>SKULL<br>**_A Tale of Masked Rider_

_Chapter 2: **A** Start of New Life/Rising Up the Conflict_

"I have questions **for you**, Fukuda…" The man shifts his glance to Ryo.

"Or should I say… _Skull_?"

Ryo's face remains unchanged, but he still feels the creep from that voice. "…You finally know it, Sakazuki…?" Ryo glared back, still with the same dull expression. "Yeah, the mysterious "Skull Rider" that recently got _popular_ in underworld." The man in tuxedo said. Ryo lets out a small laugh. "Hahahahah, am I that _famous_?"

"Apparently, your action of beating up some bank robbers few days ago has been published in newspaper." Sakazuki replied. "And not only that." He continues speaking, giving Ryo no chance to speak.

"It seems that you are entering the sea full of sharks."

"Meaning I'm in a bigger trouble." Ryo interrupted the speech.

"Indeed. As the "upper-classers" are hunting the Lost Driver and Skull Memory you possess so I heard from my "ears"..." Sakazuki smirked.

"…Actually, I still don't know the relation of Lost Driver and Skull Memory with this "Museum" organization." Ryo shrugged, looking at the birds flying towards the afternoon sun.

"My men are trying to find out about it." Sakazuki also looks at the afternoon sun.

"Well… now for the question." Sakazuki fixes the position of his fedora. This conversation starts to become more serious…

"Sure." Ryo only replied dully.

"Say Fukuda, were you chased by few people with their alias based of Seven Deadly Sins?"

Without thinking further, Ryo already know the answer. "I fought two of them. One is with me, another one escaped on my way going here. Who the heck are they?"

"I want you to explain the _"One is with me"_ part first." The tuxedo man shows his sign of curiosity.

"Simple. I fought this Watanabe Yuri, I kicked her, and apparently she has memory loss and total personality change after the fight. Now she lives with me. And if you want to ask about the other one, I can't give you a lot of answer."

"Hmm… you give me a name to be remembered. I hope we can dig enough information as soon as she regains her memories back." Tuxedo man nodded in amusement. He didn't expect Ryo can pick one of the "Sinners" and live with that person.

"Now tell me about this "Seven Deadly Sins" thing." Stern voice is coming from Ryo.

Sakazuki chuckled as he give another question to Ryo. "Did one of two people you fought say something about _"Sinner"_?"

"...The escaped one did." The other man commented dryly. And Sakazuki starts explaining.

"From the recent information I got. The "Sinners" is a group consisting of 7 high-leveled criminals powered with Gaia Memories. They committed lots of criminal activities for sure. And they associate themselves with the "Seven Deadly Sins" legend, which is why they are called Sinners. I heard these "Sinners" also have some allegiance with "Museum"…"

"Which is why some of their members hunt me?"

"Correct."

"Now, let's go to the **_real_** question." The aura of the conversation starts to become darker and more serious as Sakazuki said "real".

"Who gave you the Lost Driver and Skull Memory, Fukuda…?"

...His voice sure is creepy this time.

Ryo inhales a lot of breath, before he starts to speak the fact. "It's since that Incident, Sakazaki. A mysterious person gave me the tools."

"I see… can you describe the person?"

"All black." Ryo replied to the question

" Black trench coat, black shoes, black gloves, black sunglasses, black fedora." He continues the explanation.

"And also, the person's face is covered in bandages."

"I see…" Sakazuki nodded. Feeling he got enough information from the guy.

"Said the deaf man." Ryo remarked Sakazuki's statement.

"…Still playing with words, aren't you?" the fedora man chuckled.

"It's a form of my commemoration of her…" Ryo replied, inhaling a lot of breath.

"…She deserved the right to be remembered." Sakazuki offers a black can of "BASS" Coffee, which Ryo accepts sincerely.

"Losing the Department's best duo is a big loss, Fukuda… Big loss…" Sakazuki said, looking at the apparent sunset. Ryo sighed, as he takes a big gulp of the coffee.

"I still fight the crime. Though, officially quitting the department wasn't the good choice."

"Love affects human being in various ways…" Sakazuki smiled. Ryo gives no reaction to Sakazuki's indirect comment.

"Anyways, i can't stay here much longer." He walks off from Sakazuki, approaching his black bike.

"Later, dude."

"Take care, Tiger."

As Ryo drives away, Sakazuki looks at the beautiful sunset from his place.

* * *

><p>"Rider… JUMP!"<p>

*Fwoooosh!*

"Rider DOUBLE KIIICK!"

"AAAAARGH!"

*BOOOM*

*Cue Kamen Rider no Uta*

...While at Katsu's room, Katsu and Yuri just finished watching Katsu's favorite show, Kamen Rider.

"I don't know that you like Kamen Rider too, Yuri." Katsu said as he carefully looks at his DVD collection.

"Well, I just happen to remember I watched this show with someone." Yuri keeps looking at the High Definition TV screen in front of her.

"Oh, who is it?" Katsu turned off the DVD Player, ejecting the Kamen Rider DVD that he and Yuri just watched.

"Can't remember it yet…" Yuri replied, frowning.

"…I see." Katsu looked at the frowning girl. Whoever it is, looks like this person is important for Yuri. She looked like trying so hard to remember this person.

"…I believe, you will remember it sooner or later, Yuri…" Katsu tried to cheer the girl up.

"Thank you Katsu." The girl smiled again, back to her positive side.

"Now do you want to watch more Kamen Rider? Or should we watch another Dorama?"

"Hmm… do you have _Ju-On_, Katsu?"

"Eh?"

* * *

><p>06.35 PM<p>

The sky is getting darker and darker. Ryo just finished buying some "BASS" Coffee from a convenience store. "Shoulda' go home now." Ryo muttered, placing the new plastic bag to the handlebar of his bike. Before Ryo starts the engine, he glanced reflexively at the new figure who just appeared from nowhere.

. "I hope you don't mind me interfering your way to go home…" A muffled female voice greeted Ryo. The new figure looks exactly like what Ryo described to Sakazuki before. It wears black trench coat, gloves, boots, sunglasses, and fedora. No portion of the person's face revealed as the entire face covered in bandages. Auburn long hair was blown by gentle wind.

"Why am I not surprised with this?" Ryo smirked cockily upon the new mysterious figure. The other figure keeps quiet, since the facial expression can't be seen thanks to the bandages covering the face.

"…As I expected from you." The female figure replied.

"Save the crap for later time. Just tell me what you want." Ryo decided to get off from the parked bike and approach the woman.

"Catch." The woman tossed something to Ryo.

Ryo instinctively catch the black, gun looking object. The head of the gun is snapped out from the body, but still connected with the gun. There's a distinct red stripes on the gun's body. And there's a slot on the back of the gun, fitting enough for a USB Flash Drive to be inserted.

"I supposed to give that to you earlier." The woman said.

After he caught the gun, he managed to twirl it before he decided to take a good look on the firearm. "You forgot to give me a _busted_ gun? What kind of prank is this?" Ryo pointed the "seemingly" broken firearm to the mysterious woman.

"Pull the trigger." Shroud challenges Ryo to pull the trigger. And indeed Ryo pull the trigger, but he pointed the gun to the empty sky before doing that. And we can hear some banging noise as the trigger pulled. The cashier of convenience store looked from the window.

"Okay, it's not a practical joke, at all." Ryo commented dully as he looks at the gun. He looked back at the mysterious figure, only to find that she's isn't on her place anymore.

"…That Shroud woman."

Ryo spins the gun again before he gets on the bike and goes back to the boarding house.

* * *

><p>As Ryo arrived back to the boarding house, he hurriedly go to Katsu's room, picking back Yuri.<p>

"Hey, kiddo!"

"One sec!" Katsu replied. Few moments later, the shaggy guy opened the door.

"I bought some coffee for ye, and where's Yuri?"

And Yuri appears behind Ryo with a red T-Shirt and brown shorts instead of the outfit she wear from that night. She also comes with yellow towel and her previous attire.

"The water's great!" Yuri happily exclaimed. Ryo only can stare at Yuri.

"Well… she wants a bath. And I let her borrow some of my clothes." Katsu explained.

"Which reminds me I need a shower for myself too…" Ryo then goes to his room, preparing to take a shower.

Inside his room, Ryo puts the new gun and the Lost Driver to the desk. He looked at the stacks of paper and photograph nearby, taking one of the photographs from the stacks. It's a picture of Ryo with several people with police uniforms in crazy poses. Beside Ryo, there's a woman hugging him from behind. The photo has a paper clipped on it. It's a description of the picture with Ryo's handwriting on it.

"_It's a picture of Futo Police Department's Private Investigator Division party night. People were going crazy and revealing their true natures at that time. But the important thing is… that night is 2__nd__ Anniversary of my relationship with her. I still can't beat her in playing with words. But that night brought us one step closer..."_

"…Missed you, guys."

Ryo placed back the photograph and takes a white T-shirt, underwear, and black boxer pants from the dresser.

* * *

><p>07.10 PM<p>

And after some good bath… now Ryo is resting on the floor of his room, Yuri is on the bed.

"So… how's your stay at Katsu's room?" Ryo stared at Yuri who reads one of his newspapers.

"Good. And I like his collection of DVDs." Yuri smiled as she continues reading newspaper. "Most of Katsu's collections are action movies, but I saw some Dorama with him." She keeps on explaining as she opens a new page of the newspaper.

"Katsu has wide knowledge of motion picture." Ryo chuckled.

"And Yuri, Have you eaten something for dinner? I'm gonna make one if you haven't." Ryo rise up from his sleep, crossing his legs to sit.

"I'm not hungry. Katsu-kun gave me fried rice for dinner."

"Oh…" Ryo lies down on the floor again.

"How about you, Ryo-kun?" Yuri asked back, looking at the Ryo who apparently is staring at the ceiling.

"I already eat outside."

And silence ensues again.

"Hmm… Ryo-kun?"

"What is it?"

"You like photography?" Yuri looks at the stack of photographs on the desk.

"Sort of…" He replied.

"Sort of?" Yuri blinked at the answer.

"Actually, photography is not my interest. I take pictures because I need objects to be described."

"Objects… to be described?" Yuri becomes more confused.

"See for yourself." Ryo then takes one of the photographs and gives it to Yuri. She accepts it and sees a picture of a bird on a blue sky. The clipped paper has some handwriting on it.

"_It's a picture of a bird flying freely on the blue sky. It's moving smoothly here and there with ease. The sky is a bit cloudy, but the clouds make this picture more beautiful! Having such freedom to fly on the sky must be great. I learned a lot from this picture, thanks to you …"_

Yuri is still confused with the description, but at least she knows that the picture has caption attached on it. "Hmm… you give a caption to every picture you take?"

"Yes. I tried to describe the object as good as I can, but never feel satisfied with the result." Ryo replied dully. His eyes keep looking on the lamplight on the ceiling.

"I see…" Yuri gets the point. She looked back at the picture of the bird, reading every single word carefully, summing up the point of the description, until she jumps into a conclusion. "I'm starting to catch the meaning of this caption..."

"...You give emphasis to the word "Freedom", right?"

"Uh-huh." Ryo nodded, with his usual dull expression. Yuri takes initiative to see other photographs.

"What're those papers?" Yuri asked again, this time she points at the stack of papers.

"…Poems. They're a stack of poems." Ryo remains unchanged.

Yuri blinked again upon the answer. Yuri wonders why Ryo keep the record of his poems in a stack of papers.

"You don't know the thing called "Book"?" Yuri asked, now looking at the funny picture of someone jumping off from a bridge.

"I'm not an idiot. I just prefer to keep those poems on papers. And I can just clip those papers if I want to sort them out." Ryo shrugged.

And suddenly, Ryo's phone is beeping. Ryo quickly takes his hanged trousers and reach his old, black-colored candybar cell phone. He looks at the screen, informing that he has 1 new unread message. Once he opened the message and reads it…

"Crap." Ryo growled.

"Huh? What's wrong Ryo-kun?"

Suddenly, Ryo stands up, quickly puts on his trousers and jacket. The man looks like he get a sudden disaster call. "I'm gonna go somewhere." He grabs the camera bag and the other gears (you know what those are…)

"…Again?"

"Yes."

"…Can I go with you?"

"No."

Yuri frowned. Ryo couldn't help sighing.

"I know it's disappointing, but you better get some rest and try to remember your past."

Yuri's expression remains the same. But it looks like she'll only become a burden if she follows Ryo. The girl sighed, and finally she responded.

"…Alright." "Just take care, Ryo-kun."

"I know how to take care of myself." Ryo walks out, leaving Yuri alone in his room.

Now Yuri is alone. She is confused, doesn't know what to do. She only thinks about Ryo's last words before leaving the room. And every time she puts the word "Remember" in her mind, she feels uneasy.

"…Remember…"

Everytime she puts on that word in her mind… she feels she want to cry…

"My head hurts…" Yuri buries her face in the pillow.

* * *

><p>07.45 PM<p>

Now Ryo is driving somewhere. He keeps looking at his cell phone with a lot of worry.

_Fukuda, a goldfish is being chased by blue hound at my location before._

_-Sakazuki_

Ryo's facial expression is very serious this time. Maybe those words are some kind of code message. Whatever the message means, Ryo knows that something terrible is happening. He's already having his Lost Driver attached, and holding the Skull Memory instead of the cell phone.

"Hang in there, guys! I'm going there!"

_*Vroooooooooooooooo!*_

* * *

><p>08.04 PM<p>

*Bang! Bang!*

*Thunk!*

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

*Thunk! Thunk!*

"Darn it!" A man in blue police uniform keeps shooting the humanoid figure, with an oversized, skull-ish Tyrannosaurus head. The figure keeps walking, as if the bullets were nothing.

"ROAAAAAAAAARRRR!"

The figure's oversized head growled, rushing brutally to the police officer. While the other police officers, they are having a fistfight with people in black tuxedos. No face can be seen from tuxedo men, since their whole head is covered with something that resembles black balaclava with white ribcage trimmings on it. The police officers can keep up with those masked grunts, but quickly, the police officers defeated easily by the T-Rex figure. The police officers are totally beaten up.

"ROAAAAAAAAAARRRR!"

The figure growls louder than before. This wild beast looks prepared to finish off the police officers. But before the T-Rex figure managed to reach the wounded officers, it shifts the glance, looking at the black motorbike approaching.

_*Screeeeeeeeee!*_

"Just in time."

The newcomer said, jumped off from the bike. Black helmet still attached to the driver's head. "ATTAAAAAAAAACK!" The T-Rex figure roars, ordering the mask men to attack the mysterious guy with a strange belt attached. Now it's 1 man against 10 grunts. The man stands in a relaxed position, looking at 10 men in tuxedo surrounds him.

"Go ahead."

And one of the grunts tried to punch the man on the face, which is dodged by a side-step, and countered with a grab on the punching arm. The man then swings the grunt overhead, before slamming the grunt to the ground. The masked man disappeared suddenly after that. The man in helmet then fights with the remaining 9.

Then another one rushing in with a low sweep kick aimed at the man's calf, which is failed because the man kicked the grunt before it succeeded. The wave of attack continues as the remaining grunts rushing in. The man still fights calmly, giving blows while carefully dodging the incoming attacks until all of the 9 grunts disappeared.

"Okay, I'm done wasting time with your underlings." The helmet man (which is Ryo) pointed his index finger to the T-rex figure that apparently is glaring at him.

"GRRRRR…"

"Looks like talking won't bring us to anything?"

"ROAAAAAAAARRR!"

The figure rushes wildly to Ryo. Ryo don't have other choice besides transforming to Skull and fight the monster. And besides, why should he run away? That's not his style.

**[SKULL!]**

As Ryo transformed to Skull, he quickly responded the tackle from T-Rex Dopant with a fierce roundhouse kick, forcing the Dopant back few steps. It growls angrily and continues attempting to assault the Skull figure. The monster's raw strength sure is overwhelming. But since it happens to fight blunt and slow, this fight is going easy… at least that's what appears in Ryo's mind.

The T-Rex Dopant now comes with a barrage of punches and bites. Ryo can block some of the attacks, but the overwhelming power of T-Rex Dopant can't make him do much aside from focusing his block so the attack won't do much damage. Ryo breaks the attack by leaping back after he feels he had enough blocking the attacks.

"I should try this from the beginning." Skull said, quickly reaches his back and draws something out from there. And it's the gun he acquired before. "Let's see what this "weapon" can do…" with a swift move, Ryo aimed the gun at the T-Rex Dopant and fires three shots from it.

"ROAAARRRR!"

It worked. The T-Rex Dopant takes damage from those shots, shown by the Dopant grabbed the oversized head while growling in pain. Skull shows no mercy after that. He keeps firing the Dopant while slowly walking towards it. After he is close enough with the Dopant, Ryo runs and gives a finishing, jumping roundhouse kick to knock back the Dopant. After it knocked back, Skull quickly runs to the police officers.

"You guys alright?" Skull asked.

"Uhh… we… fine, somehow…" One of the officers replied, holding the pain on his stomach.

"Tell me. What was happened before you guys facing this bighead." Skull shifts the glance to the replying officer.

"We… we were chasing a group of bank robbers! At first, we managed to surround them, but their boss suddenly injects an USB Flash Drive to his shoulder! Ugh!" The police officer said as he grabs his bleeding stomach tighter.

"…Try to request some back up. Let me kick the... "

"GET DOWN!"

"Wha-?"

Ryo's word suddenly interrupted by the police's sudden yelling, he reflexively gets down as a police car flies across his position.

"What the…"

"Look! Look at the T-Rex head!" The wounded officer suddenly points to somewhere. Ryo follows the direction where the finger points out, only to notice things are getting worse…

"…Shit."

Ryo is stunned, looking at various piece of metals, including the police cars and... his bike flying towards the T-rex figure. The metals sticks to the figure, creating a big piece of junk. and then, a big, 10 feet tall metallic T-Rex figure emerged from the junks.

"!"

...But what makes Ryo stunned is not the evolution of T-Rex Dopant , the thing that makes Ryo stunned is his "Fireblade" bike being used by the Dopant as one of its part.

"...I need 5 years to get that goddamn bike..."

Ryo groans angrily, and he runs toward the big T-Rex.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in a dark, unknown place...<p>

"...Have you found Wrath?"

"Not yet."

"Keep looking for her, Pride. Don't forget to give her the Tricera memory and tell her it's fixed already."

"Will do."

Footsteps can be heard after that, leaving the other 5 figures in darkness.

"I'm starting to miss my little Wrath-chan..." the female figure starts to speak.

"Stop it, Lust. We know you missed her so much." A male voice interrupted.

"She's not in the police's custody. Does this mean that Fukuda guy is the one who take her? After she went to take that thing from him, there's no other trace of Wrath, besides the broken Bird Memory." The voice continues to speak.

"This guy is interesting... he's not only having the Lost Driver and Skull Memory. But he defeats Wrath too..." a dark and heavy voice comes from another figure.

"I think it's because Wrath is using the Bird Memory. I doubt that Fukuda can defeat her when she goes with her "true" strength..." the voice from before spoken.

"...I know that. But both Lost Driver and Skull Memory aren't in perfect stage. So i can say that Fukuda and Wrath are equal at that time." the dark voice replied.

"..."

"...Finally, a worthy prey to be hunted..." the dark voice laughed.

**_-Chapter 2:End-  
><em>**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Enzan: <em>**Uh... a bit shorter than the first chapter. But i hope it's still good. Again, i remind you to give me reviews, critics, or comments for this fic. Your reviews/critics/comments helps me to become better and better. So if you want this story to become better, tell me what's in your mind! Stay tuned for the next chapters!


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